Paul's Thank-you Note, Part 2

Introduction: Paul's Thank-You Note and the Fusion of Grace and Good Manners

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, February 21st, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I urge you again to open your Bibles, this time turning to Paul's letter to the Philippians, the book of Philippians, and chapter 4. Philippians, chapter 4, and follow as I read verses 10 through 17. Philippians, chapter 4, verses 10 through 17.

0:40 Now for some who may be hearing this portion read for the first time, just this little introductory word of explanation will no doubt be helpful in sorting out what is being said. Paul was in prison at Rome, the church at Philippi, probably about 800 miles away in terms of the route that Epaphroditus, Epaphroditus, their representative, had to travel, they sent a representative by the name of Epaphroditus with gifts to Paul at Rome. And now at long last, toward the end of the letter, he is giving what we might call a P.S. in the form of a thank you note for their gift.

1:21 Verse 10. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me, wherein you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity. Now, did I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengthens, and I know also how to be filled and to be in want. I can do all things in him that strengthens, and I know also how to be filled and to be in want. How be it you did well in that you had fellowship with my affliction, and you yourselves know, also you Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you only.

2:26 For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my need, not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the gift of the Lord. I seek for the fruit that increases to your account. Let us again pause in the presence of God and ask the help of the Holy Spirit as we seek to understand the mind of God in his word.

2:55 Our Father, we have sung together that Christ in his word draws near, and surely there is no greater longing in our hearts than that that should be true. It should be true in the next hour that as we open the scriptures, Christ himself would draw near to us. We do not ask for any mystic vision. We do not ask to hear the whisper of voices, but, O Lord, we do entreat you, take away the blindness from our eyes, the dullness from our hearts, the unrest, the responsiveness from our spirits, that as the Lord Jesus would draw near in the preaching of his word, our hearts may leap within us, and that we may run to greet him. O that we may greet him with those actions of the heart, faith and obedience, and the pouring forth of new expressions of our love to him. Do this for us, we plead, not because we are worthy, but because you delight to magnify your grace by ministering to the unworthy. Hear us then, and meet us for his name's sake.

4:24 Amen.

4:28 Grace and good manners ought never to be separated from each other.

4:39 And in the passage read in your hearing, we see a beautiful, beautiful fusion of both grace and good manners as the Apostle Paul brings to a conclusion his letter to the Philippian church. In verses 10 through 19 of the fourth chapter, he is writing his thank you note to the Philippians for their gracious gifts sent to him by the hand of Epaphroditus. And as we read those verses, we see something, of Paul's good manners. He knows how to say thank you.

5:17 He knows how to say thank you very tactfully. He knows how to say thank you in such a way that he does not indulge in the one hand in a fawning kind of praise that will minister to pride. Nor is he so fearful that some would take his words and use them in that way that he's stingy in the expressions of his gratitude. So in that sense, he shows himself a very highly cultured Christian gentleman.

5:48 We find good manners in his thank you note. But, as we read the paragraph, we are not only aware of good manners in the manner in which he writes, but we see the grace of God oozing, as it were, through every single phrase and sentence of his thank you note. Perspectives are expressed, which would never have come from Paul's heart were it not for the grace of God. Things are said about the Philippians in this thank you note, which never would have been said of any group of people unless they had been the recipients of the grace of God.

6:32 And so in a very wonderful way, we see in this paragraph that beautiful fusion of grace and of good manners. Last Lord's Day, we began our study of the paragraph by examining the first four verses in it, verses 10 through 13, in which we noted two basic units of thought. Paul's tactful declaration of his joy, verse 10, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length your care for me has blossomed forth anew. And he was very tactful in the expression of his joy, both in the figure which he used with respect to it and the assumption that he makes with respect to the long time that had passed between the past expression of the Philippians' concern and this recent expression in the gift of Epaphroditus. And then the second thing we noted in verses 11 through 13 was Paul's masterful qualification of his joy. When he tells us, tells them that he rejoiced greatly in the Lord at the coming of Epaphroditus and the deposit of their gift, that he was not speaking primarily with reference to a joy that was the reflex response

Commendation for the Philippians' Most Recent Gift (v. 14)

7:55 to the easing of his very, very difficult circumstances, because he tells them his joy was not determined by his external circumstances. He had learned in whatever state he found himself therein, to be content. Now we move on this morning to consider, God willing, and I trust God helping us, the next four verses in Paul's thank you note, verses 14 through 17. And in them we have three basic units of thought.

8:30 We have, first of all, a commendation for the Philippians' most recent gift, verse 14. And then in verses 15 and 16, we have a reflection, upon the Philippians' past gifts. And then in verse 17, we have a qualification of the whole matter of the Philippians' gifts. First of all, then, we have a commendation for the Philippians' most recent gift, verse 14.

9:02 How be it you did well that you had fellowship with my affliction. And the word translated in our versions, how be it, is a transitional adverb by which the apostle makes it plain that though he has digressed a bit in his qualification of describing his joy, he's now coming back to the main subject. The subject opened up in verse 10. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that your care for me has blossomed forth.

9:37 Then he had the digression of qualification in verses 11 through 13. Now he says, I'm coming back to that subject of the flowering forth of your concern and thought for me, namely, this matter of your gifts to me brought by the hand of Epaphroditus. And now he gives them a formal commendation for that most recent gift. And as he does, he focuses upon two ideas.

10:09 First of all, the moral quality of that recent gift. Look at the language of the text. How be it, you did well. In the sending of Epaphroditus with these gifts that relieved Paul's necessities, the apostle comments on the moral quality of that act and he says, you did well.

10:37 It was a morally good, praiseworthy act. It was an act of Christian nobility simply because it was an act so well pleasing to God as we shall see when we come to the exposition of verse 18. So he refers to the recent gift in his commendation in terms of its moral quality, but then secondly, in terms of its true nature. Notice how he describes it.

11:09 He calls it a, fellowshipping with his affliction. The sending of Epaphroditus with a bag of coins and perhaps a knapsack full of clothes, he says, was nothing less in its true nature than a fellowship, a joint communion in the affliction of the apostle Paul. And he uses the form of the verb for fellowship with a prefix, which means you did this together. It was joint fellowship, notice, not in the mere meeting of some temporal needs that I may have had, but it was a joint fellowship in my afflicted condition. Now here's the apostle in prison at Rome. He has learned contentment, whether he is destitute or whether he is abounding. He has learned what it is to lock into those springs of contentment which are not altered by external circumstances.

12:19 But he's Paul the realist. And he does not in any way turn his back upon the fact that being in prison, cut off from people, cut off from his ministry, was a sore trial and an affliction. It was nothing less than a tribulation. And this is the standard word in the New Testament for tribulation.

12:41 In the world you shall have tribulation. Now notice what Paul says, and it's an amazing statement. And this paragraph is full of amazing statements. He says, when you sent by the hand of Epaphroditus your gifts, you were doing nothing else than entering into a corporate act of sharing my very affliction.

13:04 My affliction became yours. And you jointly as a church empathize, entered in, and shared in that affliction. That's why he said, you did well. You did a morally good, praiseworthy, noble thing because Paul understood that great principle that when we minister to the people of Christ, we are ministering to Christ himself.

13:37 You remember the words of our Lord in Matthew 25? In the day of judgment, there will be those who say, after the Lord commends them, I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. I was naked and you clothed me.

13:51 They say, Lord, we never saw you naked. What are you talking about? We never saw you in prison. What was his response?

13:58 Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these, my little ones, you did it unto me. And Paul learned that lesson on the very threshold of the Christian life. For the first words that pierced his ears after he was struck down with a blinding light on the road to Damascus were these, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Well, he had been persecuting the people of Christ.

14:30 And the Lord informed him that when you touch my people, you touch me. So intimate and real and vital and living are the bonds that unite me, to my people, touch them, and you touch me. And Paul understood that. And so he said to the Philippians in commending them for their most recent gift that it was a noble act.

14:55 He points to its moral quality and then he points to its true nature. It was nothing less than a corporate act of fellowship with Paul in his affliction. But then in verse 15, he moves on to record his reflection upon their past gifts from the commendation of the most recent gift, now a reflection of their past gift. Look at the text.

Reflection on the Philippians' Past Gifts (vv. 15-16)

15:25 And you yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my need. As the apostle commends them for their most recent gift, his mind by law of association is taken up with the previous gifts which the Philippians had sent to him. And notice first of all as we attempt to unpack these verses, the circumstances of their past giving to the apostle Paul. And as we read them, it's evident the Philippians knew what he meant in detail because he tells them. He said, you yourselves know, you Philippians. And though they knew precisely what he's talking about, it's difficult for us in piecing together the record in Acts 17 with some of the allusions in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and the actual chronology and then also the actual chronology and then also the very linguistic structure of this passage.

16:44 It's difficult to know whether Paul is referring to one basic complex of events or whether he's referring to two distinct categories of events. He may be saying this. Look at the text. You Philippians know that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me.

17:09 And he may on this occasion be remembering that a special gift was sent to him from the Philippians just as he was departing from Macedonia and by the way as often in a hurry. You read about it in Acts chapter 17. Whether they sent a gift to him as he was leaving Macedonia to go down into Achaia and Corinth was his next basis of gospel preaching and he may be saying that in the beginning of the gospel that is in the beginning of this new gospel frontier no church had fellowship with me in the way of specific support but you Philippians you were there when I was about to leave Macedonia and you committed yourself to help me in my next dimension of gospel enterprise. And then he says not only did you do that then but when I was still in Macedonia namely at the city of Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need that is on two occasions you were aware of my need and you sent messengers with goods to supply my needs. So he may be referring to two distinct incidents. One just as he's about to leave Macedonia the other reflecting back to the time when he was still in Macedonia.

18:34 Or it could be that what he is saying is the general statement in verse 15 that in the beginning of the gospel around the time when I departed from Macedonia no church had fellowship with me that is you Philippians by sending twice to my need when I was in Thessalonica for it was Thessalonica then Berea and then out of Macedonia and on to Achaia the next verse may be an expansion and an explanation of what he meant in the previous verse. And frankly I really don't care. I don't care which it was. And one reads page after page after page as the commentators debate that which to me is a silly and a peripheral issue. He says you Philippians know what I'm referring to and that's all that really matters that he wasn't making this up. He says you know I'm trafficking in facts in data known to all of you. So whether it's the former case where there were two distinct time references in mind or whether one general time reference this much is clear that as an infant church as an infant church there's the key issue as an infant church some 10 to 12 years prior to the coming of Epaphroditus at Rome

20:02 the Philippians were deeply engaged in the ongoing work of the gospel as it was carried on by the apostle in the gospel in making it their business to know about his needs and to respond to these needs. And furthermore according to 2 Corinthians 8 they did it in a general condition of poverty.

20:27 It is not as though they were an affluent people for later on when a collection is taken for the poor saints in Jerusalem he says the saints in Macedonia out of their own deep poverty gave even beyond their ability. So the circumstances of their past giving are underscored by the apostle but then he goes on in the second place to underscore the essence of their repeated acts of giving. Their repeated acts of giving in their essence are described in two ways. Look at the passage.

21:07 First of all in terms of fellowshipping with him in the matter of giving and receiving. Verse 15 When I departed from Macedonia no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only. Now some have tried to say this terminology is terminology used in the commercial world and it should be translated no church set up an account of receipts and of debits but you only. Now I find that a bit fanciful.

21:49 I don't see it demanded by the language and so I'm going to let it rest as it stands in our Bibles. He calls in its essence these past gifts a matter again fellowship. He brings in the word fellowship and he says it was fellowshipping with him in the matter of giving and receiving. It was not fellowship in giving and receiving.

22:16 He says it was fellowship with me personalizing it but in reference to their giving and Paul's receiving. And then he describes it in the more plain terminology further down in the passage verse 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my need. So you see the essence of their acts of giving is described first of all in terms of its spiritual reality. It was a fellowshipping with Paul himself in the context of giving and receiving and then in its practical consequence it was the means by which his need was met. So here you see again that beautiful fusion of the loftiest spiritual perspectives coupled with the most mundane realism. What did you do in those past gifts when you sent to me twice at Thessalonica and when perhaps in addition to that you sent to my need as I was about to leave Macedonia he said you were fellowshipping with me personally. It was your hearts that came to me in the purses that brought the shekels.

23:36 It was your love that came to me. It was your communion in Christ that I felt when your gift was given to me. It was brought and oh by the way you also sent to my need. My needs were met.

23:50 Now you remember that it was the apostle's stated principle in most places where he would first go to preach that he would not let people remunerate him for his preaching. He says this very clearly to the church of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2 and 2 Thessalonians 3. He underscores it as a general principle in 1 Corinthians 9 so that may be one of the reasons why other churches did not rally but this church at Philippi understanding his general policy was nonetheless bold as it were to even force its gifts upon them out of sheer love and something of what we might call the cheekiness of holy affection. But he not only points to the circumstances of their previous gifts the essence of their previous gifts but then thirdly the uniqueness of their previous gifts. Verse 15 And you yourselves know you Philippians that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only. So he not only underscores the circumstances which they well knew the essence fellowshipping with him sending to his need but the uniqueness he said no other church did what you did.

25:19 Now are we to assume that that's a rebuke of the other churches? I don't think so. I cannot imagine a man whose heart is so conditioned as the apostles that he would be taking this occasion of speaking of his joy in the Lord to stick a pin in somebody. You see here's a man remembering something done ten to twelve years ago.

25:45 Now there are a lot of people who hold grudges for ten years who lick the wounds of self-pity for ten years who remember wrongs done to them with a memory that makes an elephant look forgetful.

26:01 But not this man. What he remembers is acts of kindness no doubt for which he gave thanks ten years ago but he remembers them again. I can't imagine in that context he's sticking it to the other churches. No, he's simply stating a fact.

26:16 You were the only church and he's doing it not in a way to downgrade the others but to give praise where praise is due to give honor where honor is due. It is a sheer fact of history that your giving in the past was unique among the churches. Well, having looked at his commendation for their recent gift verse 14 his reflection upon their past gifts verses 15 and 20 and 16 now notice in the third place a qualification of the whole subject of their gifts. And you will notice that the verse begins verse 17 exactly as verse 11 did.

Qualification of the Philippians' Gifts: Seeking Fruit, Not the Gift (v. 17)

27:00 He told them of his joy and then he qualified not that. Now he commends them for their present gift their most recent gift he recalls their past gifts but now he's going to qualify and he starts with the same words. Not that. Not that.

27:19 And his qualification has a negative and a positive dimension. Look at the negative. Not that I am earnestly seeking for the gift.

27:31 Paul you're writing a thank you note. You've said thank you to these Philippians for the gift recently brought. But now Paul you've gone all the way back 10 to 12 years ago and you've thanked them again for things which were no doubt expressed in thanks way back then. Paul, are you doing this because you're trying psychologically, emotionally and mentally to condition the Philippians to think about gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts gimme, gimme, gimme.

28:02 Paul, are you trying to set them up for an appeal?

28:06 He cuts that off at the pass and says it's not that I'm seeking for the gift. I write these things not because I am subtly attempting to elicit another gift from you. No, no. That is not my concern the apostle says.

28:23 I am not seeking the gift but positively look at the positive statement and he repeats the verb for emphasis but I am seeking and the word for seek is an intensified form of the normal verb for seek. I am seeking diligently. I am seeking earnestly for what? For the fruit?

28:48 That increases to your account. And here's another amazing statement. He says you know why I'm talking so much about your gifts? Why I'm commending you for the recent gift?

29:01 Why I am recalling your previous gifts? This is why. It's because that by this I hope that your own account the ledger in which God keeps the records of the deeds. Of his people will be swelled to your own gratification in the last day and to your own everlasting happiness.

29:29 In other words here is Paul saying I write these things not for my sake but for your sakes. You see in chapter 1 he made it plain that any fruit born in the lives of God's people would ultimately bring glory to the people and to the people and to the people and to the people and to the people and to the people and to the living God. He said he prayed for the Philippians that they might be filled verse 11 of chapter 1 that they might be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Any fruit born in the life of a believer is through Christ that is through the virtue and power of Christ and it is unto it ultimately issues in the glory of God but that's not the full picture because the Bible teaches that the very fruit born by the grace of God through the people of God will be rewarded by God in the last day. That's grace. Produces it and then rewards it and that's exactly the reality to which Paul is referring in this passage not that I am seeking the gift but I am seeking for the fruit and in this context the fruit you see is the increase of this grace

30:56 of holy abandonment in giving and supporting the work of Christ's kingdom fruit he says that will overflow into your account so that when you stand before him in the last day you will hear him say well done thou good and thou faithful servant what an amazing man I tell you as I've pondered this thank you note there are times I've just shaken my head and said oh how much grace grace filled the heart of this man of God well that's the basic meaning of the passage but now what does all of that say to us what are we to learn from this passage what were the Philippians to learn was it meant simply to convey to the Philippians Paul's expression of thanks was it merely an opportunity to disclose the fact that grace and good manners can be fused together in the same person no it was ordained of God to be a word of holy instruction to them and to the church throughout its entire existence and as time permits I want to draw out several lines of application this morning and the first is this and it stands at the top of the list behold behold behold behold behold behold behold behold behold in this passage a vivid illustration

Application 1: The Mighty Power of the Gospel

32:22 of the mighty power of the gospel behold in these four verses containing a commendation a reflection a qualification all having to do with material gifts behold in this passage nothing less than a vivid illustration of the mighty power of the gospel you say why do you say that for this simple reason the bible and human experience testify that fallen mankind is fundamentally and essentially self-centered the bible says that we live unto ourselves every man by nature has drawn a circle and he stepped into the middle of that circle and he's drawn arrows from the edge of the circle toward the center and says that all of life exists for me and so self-seeking self-will self-serving self-aggrandizement self-promotion are as natural to us as fallen men and women boys and girls as is breathing furthermore the bible says the carnal mind is enmity against god it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can it be and what is the

33:52 second great demand of god's law to love one's neighbor as himself and if the carnal mind and disposition is enmity against god it will not only manifest itself in the vertical dimensions of rebellion against those laws which regulate our relationship to god but with respect to those laws that regulate our relationship to our fellow men now what do we have in this setting well we have a group of people there at philippines and if you'll read acts chapter 16 you'll get a feel for their natural condition there was demon possession in one of the church members prior to the coming of the gospel there was in that place all of the influence of pagan society both at the level of pagan thought and pagan conduct people who like ourselves apart from the grace of god were self-seeking self-serving self-pleasing living unto self and then there was a man who at one time was a proud pharisaic jew who would have looked upon the majority of the people who now comprise the philippian church as dogs gentile dogs unclean beasts and he would have prided himself

35:19 in keeping at a great distance from them and yet he would have and yet we read a thank you note that indicates that this group of people had become so taken up with something called the gospel for notice how paul introduces it almost obtrudes it unnaturally into this very setting he says in the beginning of the gospel no other church had fellowship with me the gospel was the great concern of these people and that's why the man who had brought the message of the gospel to them has to leave them and as he leaves and goes on to thessalonica what do they do by some means or other by sending a representative or by sending a letter by whatever means they made it their business to find out what this man was doing now here a man goes out seeking nothing from people to give himself to their highest interest in preaching the gospel only at times to be beaten imprisoned driven out of town as he was in one place after another and here's a group of people prepared out of their poverty to give sacrificially to support a man who goes forth to preach to get for it you see the selflessness that throbs through this passage

36:46 and then the apostle goes on to describe what they did as koinonia fellowship he describes it as this joint participation in common concerns in the work of the gospel now I ask you something what is the only thing under heaven that can take people and so transform them to bring about a setting that makes a thank you note like this possible only one thing it is the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation if you sit here this morning a stranger to the power of that gospel you are an island of salvation of salvation of salvation of self-centeredness to change the imagery you are manacled and chained to unblast cursed selfishness so that your plans your ideas your notions your wants your longings your feelings your likes your dislikes are the center of your universe and my friend that's the very essence of hell to be consigned by God to the misery and pain of that kind of existence forever in the company of others who are exactly the same way

38:14 and there is nothing that can break those chains of selfishness and self-centeredness and liberate you into the liberation of the outgoingness of selfless love but the gospel that comes into the gospel indicting you as a sinner and yet comes announcing that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life this is everlasting life at work in Paul the natively prejudiced bigoted pharisaic narrow-hearted Jew who had a heart that could be anything but the strictness of the heart and now that heart is enlarged to take in a world and it's the gospel that did it and here were a group of people as naturally self-centered and selfish as any group on the face of the earth whom he can write to and say you people fellowshiped with me in my affliction you people had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and receiving you sent to my need once and again

39:43 this was no flash in the pan virtue it was a settled commitment of the deepest levels of your spiritual experience I say behold in this passage a vivid illustration of the mighty power of the gospel this did not come about by sociological manipulation mandated in the senate at Rome it didn't come to pass because there was another government edict to adjust the sociological structures it didn't come to pass because Paul went out and just flashed the peace sign everywhere hoping people would catch on to the idea and everything would be well this all got started when he had his back laid open with the lictor's lash and blood streaming down in a Roman jail and God says well it's about time I let people know I'm involved in what's going on around here so he sent an earthquake and that shook him up real good and then it wasn't long before there was a flourishing church at Philippi and my dear friends that's the ultimate answer to the problems of our own society to the cursed manifestations of selfishness at every level what this age needs more than anything else is the mighty power

41:12 of the gospel to be operative at the grassroots at the grassroots of individual human hearts Jesus said make the tree good and then its fruit will be good or the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt but I must hurry on and ask you to behold in this passage not only a vivid illustration of the mighty power of the gospel but behold in this passage an instructive illustration of the nature of true Christian fellowship see in this passage and in this passage an instructive illustration of the nature of true Christian fellowship it's amazing how we bandy around words I'm going to go over so on and so on have a little fellowship what do you mean by fellowship what is fellowship well it's interesting that it's the word is used twice here once with the prefix that means joint fellowship but the root word is used twice and what do we learn by way of illustration in this passage about the nature of true Christian fellowship we will learn about it we will learn two fundamental things number one fellowship is not merely a communion of common feelings when Paul wrote and said you had fellowship with me in my affliction it could be more wouldn't be translated you fellowshiped my affliction

Application 2: The Nature of True Christian Fellowship

42:39 you fellowshiped my affliction well how did they do that by writing a letter and saying hey Paul we feel for you furthermore Paul we feel for you we feel with you no no he wrote you fellowshiped my affliction when they sent Epaphroditus with a leather bag full of shekels and a knapsack full of clothes maybe a gunny sack filled with some non-perishables he said that was fellowship when you sent to my need so fellowship is not merely a communion of common feelings though it is that thank God it is that common feelings of love to a common savior and love to one another but according to this passage it is not merely a communion of common feelings it was a fellowship he says in the matter of giving and receiving you were giving and I was receiving what you gave was tangible what I received was tangible you see they understood the principle of 1 John 3 16 to 18 listen to John the Apostle here is the principle of love we love because he laid down his life for us we know his love because his love was concretized in his acts and we ought

44:07 to lay down our lives for the brethren but whoso hath this world's good and beholds his brother in need and shuts up his compassion from him how does the love of God abide in him my little children let us not love in words neither with the tongue but in deed and in truth and in the context you see shutting up the compassion is not just shutting down the feelings it's shutting off the natural outlet for those feelings in tangible expressions of Christian love fellowship is not merely a communion of common feelings it is feelings joined to the appropriate actions which those feelings demand if there is genuine love to Paul the knowledge of his need can only do one thing move them to send an Epaphroditus to minister to his need move them to send someone twice to Thessalonica to minister to his needs it moves them to respond to his needs as he's about to depart from Macedonia and go into Achaia but now there's the flip side of it it also teaches us that fellowship is not merely a communication of goods and things some have gone so far to say that the word fellowship is so frequently

45:36 used in the New Testament with only one or two maybe three clear exceptions in which material matters are not involved they've been ready to say well that's what fellowship is it is a communion of goods and things no no Paul says it was sharing in my affliction you see you can share things without entering into someone's affliction that whole matter of empathy that whole matter of true Christian empathy in which we put ourselves in the skin of our brother and sister and feel with him and for him while all the time seeking to minister to him and so we have in this passage an instructive illustration of the nature of Christian fellowship it is not merely a communion of common feelings there were tangible expressions of those feelings but it is not merely a communication of goods and things it was fellowshipping with him personally you see the personal element you fellowshiped with me in the matter of giving and of receiving and in the giving and the receiving the Philippians never divorced their gifts from the person to whom they were going there was this intimate communion of heart there is the personal element and let me pause simply to say by way of application may God help us

47:05 as a people to continue to operate in the light of this principle when we see each other in need we ought to be able to say to our brothers and sisters I feel for you I feel with you but if that love is genuine and if the fellowship is biblical love will then cut a channel appropriate to any need which we by the grace of God can meet if you see your brother have need and shut up your compassion from him how dwells the love of God in you now that need is not always material sometimes it is that need may be for a listening ear for a sympathetic heart and it's costly to have a listening ear there are times when I want to cut my ears off it costs so much to let them be the recipient of so many people's problems it's costly to give up your whole inner emotional life to feel what is tearing someone else up I tell you it costs it costs it costs costs nothing to give a pat on the back say praying for you brother praying for you sister feel with you cheap talk let us not love in word only but in deed and in truth and then on the flip side let's never get to the place where we are

Application 3: Principles of Missionary Support

48:34 where we say all right love does something I'll do something tangible it's so easy to give away conscience money it's so easy to take something that is external to us and put it in the hands of another without fellowshipping with that person in his affliction having fellowship with that person in the matter of giving and receiving but then I hasten on and you see where it's going very naturally behold in this passage a helpful illustration of some principles of missionary support you see how complete the Bible is in a thank you note in which grace and good manners are joined there's some of the most profound theology on biblical missionary support to be found anywhere in the Bible look what he says in verse 15 it's very interesting because you don't find this kind of construction in Paul's epistles he says you Philippians you only and not any other church had fellowship with me and when he uses the word fellowship he puts the prefix fellowship itself means communion so he says you jointly communed with me and as Lenski the Lutheran commentator underscores and I think he's right the emphasis of the word fellowship itself means joint sharing

50:04 so when he put the preposition soon at the front you jointly fellowship he was emphasizing that this was an act of the church it was a corporate involvement it wasn't just the deacons who fellowshiped with him in his affliction it was the church Epaphroditus was sent from the church the whole church as it were went with him and beating in his heart was the heart of the church marvelous principle of missionary support the support you see was not an act of the deacons it was an act of the whole church in its administration someone had to be appointed to dispense it all things were done decently and in order but Paul could write not just to the deacons though he addresses them in the opening words not just the elders but he says you Philippians you jointly fellowshiped with me in my affliction now that's true missionary support where there's a relationship sustained to the church the one going out in gospel enterprises that makes that kind of a thank you note possible they knew this man personally he had been in at least one of their homes you remember what happened after Lydia was saved and after a few more were saved oh she was a she was a shrewdy that woman

51:33 she was a good business woman she says if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and stay a while I mean how are you going to say no

51:44 Paul would be saying if he refused that invitation you're not faithful in the Lord I think you're a fake well he wasn't about to say that so she was clever she made it awfully difficult for him to turn down the invitation and something of that spirit that was there in the beginning days of the Philippian church carried all the way through there was this intimate heart involvement with the great apostle that when they heard of his needs and proper channels were opened up to meet the need it was the heart of the church that went out to Paul and as we saw last week when Epaphroditus came through the door on the arm of a Roman soldier Paul saw something more than just shackles and clothes and other things that would relieve his present distress he saw the love the concern in a sense he saw the faces of all of the dear Philippians in the countenance of his beloved brother Epaphroditus some of you wonder why we have jettisoned the traditional evangelical approach to missionary support this is why the whole idea that we just have 50 missionaries give everyone 100 or 500 dollars a year sending it to a central pool in some agency in Wheaton or somewhere else that simply runs it through a computer and sends back a receipt and once in a while gives us a paper

53:14 with some facts on it and then we have about a person that we've never known and never met never laughed with and wept with and prayed with dear people we're not just being mavericks we're seeking to be biblical this is missionary support and involvement of the whole church with a man upon whom God's hand rests who goes forth to do the work of God and in that sense missionary support is costly because you can't have a fixed budget and say all right this year 30,000 for missions boom that's all what happens when you hear of a need you're committed you're committed and one of your missionaries says if I'm to do the work of shepherding I've got to be relieved of this tremendous burden of all this paperwork in conjunction with the book ministry I don't believe God would have us give up the book ministry it's touching all of Sweden but I need a computer how much a computer 16,000 dollars oh well we don't have that kind of money we're in a building program go raise it for yourself we're already no no Pastor Ritter sat down and spoke with the elders and deacons and it was evident that that was a need we said we can do only one thing commit ourselves to that need now we've sought to do it orderly sought to do it in such a way that it doesn't bring all of the burden upon us all at once

54:43 those are administrative details but the principle is this his need is our need and we need and any claim to fellowship with him that does not express itself tangibly in that desire to communicate to set up a matter of giving and receiving that sham fellowship and any mere funneling of money through an impersonal agency that doesn't have involvement of heart and person and engagement of one soul to another soul that's not true missionary support either here are the principles right here in the word of God in the thank you note well then I just touch briefly on one other line of application because our time is gone behold in this passage not only a vivid illustration of the power of the gospel an instructive illustration of the nature of true Christian fellowship a helpful illustration of some basic missionary principles but behold in this passage a searching illustration a searching illustration of a biblical ideal a biblical ideal not idea but ideal and what is that ideal it's the ideal that Paul had when he wrote these words I do not seek for your gift but I seek for the fruit

Application 4: A Searching Illustration of a Biblical Ideal – Abounding Fruitfulness

56:12 that increases to your account now think of it for a minute this was already one of his favorite churches if not his favorite church a fruitful church a wonderful church a well-ordered church he addresses them in the opening verses to the saints at Philippi in Christ Jesus with the bishops and the deacons they had a well-ordered church with many overseers and official servants and the greatest problem they had was the danger of false teachers no indication the false teachers had already done any damage but he warns them by way of preventive medicine and a couple eminent women who've got a few sparks between them Iodia and Syntyche but a few of them but apart from that this is what we would call an ideal church they had just manifested what Paul says was a living concern for him though for ten years they had no opportunity to express it he said it was there all the while they had not grown cold they had not lost their first love they were abounding in the fruits of love and concern and holiness and unity fellowship in the gospel you'd say what more could you want he says I want more fruit for your account I want more fruit I don't want you to go to that day merely having to your ledger the present measure of fruit I want abounding fruit to your account and oh my heart has been searched as I've meditated upon that we could so easily dear people

57:39 in the light of the many ways God has been good to us to put into our hands gospel concerns that have demanded of us some measure of self-denial subsidizing the ministry of the tapes that feed others and for which we get no tangible return the structure of the academy and preparing men not to minister to us but to the universal church and in so many other ways you as a people are to be commanded but oh we are not to rest content there's much more room on the ledger and our fruit can and it must abound and if there's any sin that I pray God will keep us from it's the sin of contentment with any present level of usefulness we may have as a church we as a church need to catch the vision of this and each one of us individually ask the question Lord what can I do and be and by the grace of God become that to the account of Trinity Church there may overflow more fruit ultimately to the praise and to the praise and to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ dear people do you have anything like sanctified dreams do you have holy ambitions

59:07 do you are there times when you think of your life and involvement in this congregation in your mind's eye you see hundreds of people bowed under the pressure of Holy Ghost conviction sitting solemnly under the preaching of the word and when you see them when those who join this assembly are not the ones and the twos and the fours and the fives but the dozens is it wrong to do that kind of holy dreaming it all depends what your motives are and Paul says I earnestly seek fruit that abounds to your account if the passion is abundant fruitfulness to the ultimate glory of God and to the increase of our own reward of grace those motives are pure and then there's the cutting side of it suppose everyone who's a member of Trinity Church were as vigorous in his vision as holy in his life and as burning in his zeal as you are what would the future of this church be now you face that question honestly if every member of Trinity Church were as holy in his life

60:35 as burning in his zeal as consumed with holy vision for the advance of the work of Christ in this place where would this church be my friend it will rise no higher than that which makes it Trinity Church and that's you and that's me may God write upon our hearts the many many lessons that are here in Paul's little thank you note in which grace and good manners are so beautifully joined that you and I sit here twenty centuries after it was written and find our hearts instructed in the ways of God let us pray our Father we confess in your presence that we never cease to marvel at the richness of your holy word and as we prayed that you would give us light and understanding and that you Lord Jesus would draw near in the preaching of your own word we thank you that you have graciously heard our prayer and we ask that the word will continue its searching probing work its encouraging strengthening work and that we as a people

62:03 may become more and more those in whom there is manifested that abounding fruit of righteousness Lord for those who are strangers to the power of the gospel who are chained in their selfishness may the word of exhortation to them be effectual and may we yet see them loosed from the tyranny of selfishness into the liberty of the sons of God hear our prayer and seal your word to our hearts and may your blessing rest upon us in the remainder of this your day we ask through our Lord's Lord Jesus Christ Amen